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Girl Scouts vs. the LDS Church

City Weekly staff writer Stephen Dark asked for reader input as to why the Boy Scouts have a more intimate relationship with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints than do Girl Scouts [see “Dib dib dob dob,” April 16]. The conversation evolved into a conversation about female equality in the LDS Church.

Commenter Thin Mint got the discussion started with a brief accusation. “Girl Scouts aren’t held in the LDS bosom like the boys because girls are girls,” Thin Mint wrote. “Women don’t really count for much in that religion.”

“That’s absurd!” responded SVB, who then extolled the power and virtue of the allwomen LDS Relief Society. “Women are held in very high esteem in our faith.”

Seeming to have in mind that women are excluded from the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve, the top power structures in the church, Thin Mint replied, “Men have the power, the priesthood, men write the rules, men run the church, men hold power over their wives, both here on Earth as well as in heaven.”

Mormon, Girl Scouts fan, Salt Lake County Council candidate and former City Weekly editor Holly Mullen added, “[Girl Scouts] are about empowering girls and allowing them to reach their full potential—which may or may not include marriage and childbearing. This doesn’t fit with official LDS views on females.”